In the Trump era, conspiracy theories have been powerful fuel for conservative media and politics. Now, they’re causing the right to eat itself.
Earlier this year, I reported that Ben Shapiro planned to call out Tucker Carlson in a major speech at the Turning Point USA conference in Arizona over his flirtation with extremist figures including Nick Fuentes, his interest in revisionist history of World War II, and his dark hints of conspiracy everywhere.
We undersold it: In a speech at AmericaFest on Thursday, Shapiro laid into Carlson, Candace Owens, and Megyn Kelly, a longtime friend of Shapiro’s who was partially inspired by him to launch her own successful podcast.
The targets of Shapiro’s criticism shrugged off the substance of his comments. Carlson, following him onstage, described him as “pompous.” Kelly later mocked the size of the Daily Wire’s audience. Owens called him short, among other things.
In a past time, Fox News shaped how conservative media narratives flowed. Now the more aggressive online voices are clearly in the driver’s seat, though Fox has purchased the podcast network powering much of the new discourse.
This is Donald Trump’s movement, but after years channeling conservative media rage and conspiratorial speculation to his political benefit, he’s shown no interest in arbitrating.
That is Vice President JD Vance’s problem. Both sides appealed last week to Vance, who told the TPUSA crowd in Arizona on Sunday that “we have far more important work to do than canceling each other.”
He continued to walk the tightrope in an interview with UnHerd over the weekend, denouncing Fuentes in passing while insisting that affirmative action policies make Democrats worse.